The Battle of Algiers (1966)

The critic describes it as a stark and compelling drama and compassionate masterpiece of political analysis with much contemporary resonance. Its strengths include a cinéma-vérité approach that refuses to condemn or condone while balancing aggression with terrorism and depicting honorable individuals on both sides.

The critic finds Pontecorvo’s stirring anatomy of an urban uprising strikingly relevant today and superb and unrivalled. It effectively moulds political commentary with drama through its mournful tone, journalistic approach and intimate details amid grand-scale reconstruction.

The critic calls it unquestionably the greatest political film ever made. It is riveting as a suspense thriller and rigorously clear-eyed in its presentation of atrocities committed by both sides, with uncanny relevance to how terrorist cells operate.

The critic hails the film as a technical and dramatic masterclass that retains its power to shock and provoke long after its original release. Pontecorvo's neo-realistic approach, with its non-professional cast and newsreel-like style, is singled out for creating genuine compassion amid depictions of violence on both sides.

The critic highlights the film's enduring status as a radical, documentary-style depiction of colonial revolt and urban guerrilla tactics that resonated with 1960s radicals. Pontecorvo is praised for balancing clear sympathies with an unromanticized, blunt portrayal of violence and escalation in resistance movements.

Pontecorvo's film is a great, deeply realistic reconstruction of the Algerian struggle that succeeds in feeling like actual events. It is passionate yet neutral, showing the cost of violence and torture on both sides with universal relevance.

The critic calls it great protest art and possibly the greatest film on insurrection, praising its hybrid documentary-narrative realism that captures the Algerian fight for independence with stirring detail and evenhandedness toward both sides' tactics and atrocities.

Pontecorvo's film is the best of its kind, a brilliantly convincing reconstruction charged with authentic strong emotion and a redeeming purity of intention. It tells a tragic story of murder, torture and retribution on both sides while doing justice to history and art.

The film is an uncommonly dynamic and gripping re-enactment of the Algerian rebellion against the French, with extraordinary photographic virtuosity that makes it look like authentic documentary footage. It stands out for its literal and naturalistic account of intra-urban guerrilla warfare.

The film is a graphic, straightforward, realistic re-enactment of events leading to Algerian independence, the first feature made in Algiers by Algerians with Italian talent. It is a dedicated effort with importance as a document, blending restaged scenes with newsreel clips for authentic flavor.

The critic describes it as an unforgettable, absorbing and hard-hitting piece of cinema that provides a balanced and accurate account of the Algerian revolution, praising its lush black and white photography and score while noting its powerful message about the horror of suffering on both sides.

The critic praises the film's powerful and objective depiction of the Algerian struggle for independence, highlighting its realistic portrayal of violence on both sides and its lasting relevance. They single out the balanced account and the immersive, documentary-like style for praise.